Aaron Rodgers sparked some controversy on Monday night when he appeared to blame New York Jets wide receiver Mike Williams for a crucial late-game interception, but he’s now defending himself.
Rodgers threw what turned out to be a game-sealing interception late in Monday night’s loss to the Buffalo Bills.
On the play, it appeared as though Aaron Rodgers underthrew the pass, resulting in the interception. However, he placed the blame on Williams for running the route incorrectly.
“It was two verticals,” Rodgers said of the play.
“Allen [Lazard is] down the seam, Mike’s down the red line. So I’m looking at Allen, he puts his hand up, three guys go with him. So I’m throwing a no-look to the red line. And when I just peek my eyes back there, he’s running an in-breaker. So. Um, it’s gotta be down the red line.”
Rodgers appeared to be throwing Williams under the bus, deflecting blame from himself.
But during his Tuesday appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Rodgers insisted that was not the case.
“I think if you watch my press conferences, I start it with myself when I make mistakes,” Rodgers told McAfee according to Awful Announcing. “I’ve got to play better; I can’t make that throw. I can’t make that decision. That’s the standard for everybody. So, there were a lot of mistakes throughout the night, but if you’re looking at just that play — that’s what the question was — ‘What happened on that play?’ Well, it was two verticals to the right side, and Mike needed to get with the redline, which would’ve been a big gain.
“I wasn’t calling Mike out for anything other than his responsibility and the details in that play. I have a lot of love and respect for Mike. He does some nice things for us. On that play, he wasn’t in the right spot. You know, you can make more of that if you want to, but we all should be held to a standard. I hold myself to a standard of greatness, and when it hasn’t been there — which it hasn’t been at certain times — I’ve stood up there and said, ‘I got to play better. I wasn’t very good tonight.’
“I think, hopefully, that’s an example for everybody else to start with themselves. But that question was about what happened on the last play. I said what happened on the last play, you know?”
Rodgers has received a lot of criticism for his postgame comments.
Clearly, he does not think that criticism is justified.
